On March 25, fully dressed in several layers of winter clothing, Dyer and five other bike couriers sat at the roundtable in downtown Toronto.

Some are members of the Toronto Bike Messenger Association (TOMBA), a non-profit organization set up for the benefit of 500 bike messengers. They’re planning an emergency fundraiser for May 1 and 2. Dyer explained the purpose of the Bike Messenger Emergency Fund.

“When we get hit, we get hit (and) we go down,” Dyer said. “The bike gets trashed. You lose a month’s pay … Then you get to fix your bike. All of a sudden you just spent two grand! That’s what the fund does. It helps you get back to work. It helps you pay the rent.”

Most couriers, 90 per cent of them, work as independent contractors. They incur the same risks that small business does. Dyer clarified that 90 per cent of messengers get paid on commission, per piece.

Courier Andrew Parker noted that Toronto bike messengers receive a standard commission of about 60 per cent of the rate charged by a courier company, but without employee benefits.